Vending-machine



w. G. TEMPLETON.

'VEN-DING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1917- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- 1386,974. Patented Aug.- 9, 1921-.

2 ammmtoz w. e. TEMPLETON.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. a0, 1914.

u M... am a .H w/ m f UNITED STATES PATENT or rica.

WILLIAM G. TEMPLETON, or cononnno srnmes, COLORADO.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 9, 192- 1.

Application filed November 30, 1 17. Serial No. 204,570.

. description of the same, reference being had 10 to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to a vending machine of the type which isadapted, upon the manipulation of suitable release mechanism, tovdeliver an individual article from a plurality of article containerswithin a chute forming a part of the machine. One of the principalobjects of the invention is the rovision of a simple, eflicient andcheap venc ing machine construction which will successfully handle thearticles to be delivered and which will effect the delivery of saidarticles individually in succession, without the use of any ejectingmechanism. Another object of the invention is to provide means wherebythe flights of an endless conveyer carrying the articles to be vendedwill operate a counting device to indicate the number of articlesvended. A further object of the invention is to simplify the vendinmachine construction and insure reliabillty of action.

A full understanding of the invention will be attained from the ensuingdetailed description, when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate a structural embodiment of the invention in apreferred form. The novel features of the invention will be particularlypointed out and specified in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the preferred form of my device, thefront panel of the casing being removed for the sake of clearness.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the coin slot closing mechanism.

In its preferred embodiment my invention consists of the usual casing 1in which is journaled a drum 2, Cpreferably hexagonal in cross section,carrie by a shaft 3 in fixed compression of the spring.

' position on the casing and extending a short distance beyond one ofthe side walls thereof, said extended portion carrying the ratchet wheel4 of a coin controlled device operated by a lever 5. The operatingmechanism of the coin controlled device may be' of any desired type andforms no part of the present invention. j

A second drum 6 which may be-cylindrical, if desired, is mounted on ashaft 7 journaled in a pair of plates 8, 8, and extending through slots9, 9 in the casing. These plates each have an inturned portion 10 whichbears against a spring 11 carried by a bolt 12 loosely mounted on abrace member 13 partly closing thetop of the casing. "A

nut 14 serves as means for adjusting the I n endless flight conveyer 15passes over the drums 2 flight of the conveyer consists of a singlemetal plece 16' bent at right anglesalong one end forming a back 17having 'ears'18 and 6 and isadjustably held at the proper tension bymeans of the nuts 14. 'Each each adapted to grip one of the belts 19carried by the two drums.

A wire shaft 20 is journaled in keepers 21 on the casing and is turnedat right angles forming a head 22 to which is connected a curved metalplate 23 adapted to prevent the operation of the machine when it isempty, this being accomplished by bending the other end 24 of the wireshaft so that it will be projected into the path of a lug25 carried bythe flight 26, this lug turningjthe shaft 20 in its bearings so as torevolve the plate 23 nearly into contact with the casing, therebyclosing the coin slot and consequently preventing movement of the leverwhich operates the main drum 2.

At the time the device is thus'locked in inoperative position, due totheexhaustionof supply, the flight 27 is at approximately the same level asthe plate 23, and since this flight carries an upturned portion 281extending nearly to thebottom of the flight next above, manipulation ofthe plate 23 to uncover the coin slot is prevented at this time. Flights29 and30just above flight 27 are also provided with similar upturnedportions so that three complete operations locking pawl, pivoted to thelever, is manually lifted out of operation.

hen the machine is thus' locked and therefore empty, the operator placesan article in each of the shelves 27, 29, 30, as

well as in all the other flights at the front' of the machineabove'these flights, but does not place an article on either shelf 31 or32, these skeleton flights being cut away as at 33, so that they willnot hold an article. No article is placed on flight or shelf 34 at thistime, but the operator depresses the lever 5 three times, therebycarrying the flight 34 one step beyond the vertical, at

which time its lip 35, which was down turned, when the machine was firstlocked, is now upwardly directed so as to enable it to hold an articleand the operator then fills .it and all the remaining flights orshelves,

cam or lug 25 on the next complete revolution of the belt.

Three of the flights, namely, 38, 39 and 40, are each provided with acutaway portion 41 to prevent operation of the counter 42, while theoperator is turning the shelf 34 to article-receiving position. Each ofthe remaining flights engages a roller 43 carried by a lever 44 pivotedat 45 to' the main shaft 46 of the counting device and by suchengagement raises the arm sufliciently to advance the counter onenumber. The lever 44 is extended beyond the pivot 45 forming an arm 44to which is attached a spring 47 connected at 48 to the casing of themachine andacting by its tension to hold the roller in the path of thecorner of the flights and against the stop 49, which, in the preferredform, is a bent edge of the casing 50 secured to the. side wall asillustrated. It will be noted that atthe time the locking flight 26 isvertical at the bottom of the machine the first cut-away flight 38 isvertical at the extreme top, so that on the next three operations of thelever, (these three operations being necessary .to carry the skeletonflights 31 and 32 past discharging position and to bring the flight 34into article receiving position at the rear of the machine) no raisingof the counter lever will take place, since the roller 43 will becleared by the next three flights, owing to the cutaway portions 41.During these three operations of the lever the operator will beprevented from moving the plate 23 out of slot-closing posi tion, owingto the presence of the three upturned portions 28.

' In the preferred form the casing is provided with a glass panel 51 toenable the display of the bended article which may, for example, bebrightly colored candy wrapped in transparent material. Above the glassfront 51 is a space, 52 for adver tising matter.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vending machine, a casing, a conveyer drum rotatably mounted infixed position in said casing, a pair of plates, a second conveyer drumdirectly above said 7 ii rst mentioned drum and rotatably mounted insaid plates, an endless conveyer carried by said drums and provided withflights for carrying articles to be vended and spring means forsupporting the upper drum, the conveyer and the plates, and forindependently adjusting the tension onthe two sides ofthe.endlessconveyer by altering the relative position of each of the plateswith respect to the casing. 4

2. In avending machine, a casing, a con veycr dru a rotatably mounted infixed position in said casing, a pair of lipped plates,

va second conveyer drum rotatably mounted in said plates directly abovesaid first men tioned drum, an endless conveyer belt mounted on saiddrums, bolts secured to said casing above'the lips of the plates,springs on said bolts and nuts on said bolts for adjusting thecompression of the springs against said lips, whereby said springs carrythe entire weight of the plates, the endless conveyer and the upperdrum.

3. In a coin controlled vending machine of the type employing an endlessconveyer and a counting device operated thereby, the combination with aplurality of skeleton flights adapted to ope ate said counting device,ot-a plurality of flights greater in number than said skeleton flightsadapted to pass said counting device with out operating it when saidskeleton flights are passing article discharging position 4. In avending machine, an upper drum, a lower drum, an endless conveyermounted on said drums, and adjustable spring. means for resilientlysupporting said upper drum and said conveyer.

5. In a vending machine, an upper drum, a lowerdrum, an endless conveyermounted on said drums and having flights for carrying the articles to bevended, and a plurality of independent spring means for re silientlysupporting said upper drum, said conveyer, and the articles carriedthereon, each of said means being adjustable to alter the tension on oneedge'of said conveyer.

